ZMIME
Comparison · 2 models · Updated Oct 4, 2026

Gemini 3.6 Flash vs Qwen3.8 Max 0902

Gemini 3.6 Flash comes out ahead, 73 to 67 on our weighted score, and it is the cheaper option too.

  1. Our pick

    Google

    Gemini 3.6 Flash

    Released Jul 21, 2026

    73/100
    • ECI154.3
    • Price$0.75 / $3.75
    • Context1.05M
    Full specs Remove Gemini 3.6 Flash

  2. Alibaba (Qwen)

    Qwen3.8 Max 0902

    Released Sep 2, 2026

    67/100
    • ECI155.2
    • Price$2.00 / $6.00
    • Context1M
    Full specs Remove Qwen3.8 Max 0902

  3. Add a model

    Make it a three-way comparison.

01 — Verdict

Gemini 3.6 Flash is our pick

Gemini 3.6 Flash is the better all-round choice, scoring 73/100 against Qwen3.8 Max 0902 (67). It leads on price and inputs & features. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.

  • CapabilityQwen3.8 Max 0902Capabilities Index (ECI): Qwen3.8 Max 0902 155.2 · Gemini 3.6 Flash 154.3
  • Lowest priceGemini 3.6 FlashGemini 3.6 Flash $1.50 · Qwen3.8 Max 0902 $3.00 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
  • Longest contextGemini 3.6 FlashGemini 3.6 Flash 1,048,576 · Qwen3.8 Max 0902 1,000,000 tokens
  • Widest inputsGemini 3.6 FlashGemini 3.6 Flash: Text, Images, PDFs, Audio, Video · Qwen3.8 Max 0902: Text, Images, PDFs, Video
  • Self-hostingNo open weightsBoth are available only through APIs
How the score is built
MeasureWeightGemini 3.6 FlashQwen3.8 Max 0902
CapabilityCapabilities Index (ECI)50%8485
Price25%4227
Inputs & features15%10080
Context window10%6160
Overall100%73/10067/100
02 — Side by side

Every spec in one table

Highlighted cells lead their row. Dashes mean the data is not published.

Gemini 3.6 Flash vs Qwen3.8 Max 0902 specifications side by side
SpecificationGemini 3.6 FlashGoogleQwen3.8 Max 0902Alibaba (Qwen)
Capability
Capabilities Index (ECI)154.3155.2 (best)
ECI rank#34 of 148#28 of 148 (best)
GPQA DiamondGraduate-level science questions94.1% (best)92.3%
FrontierMath Tiers 1–3Research-level mathematics59.0%65.6% (best)
OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025Competition mathematics94.2%100% (best)
SimpleQA VerifiedShort factual questions66.2% (best)47.3%
Price per million tokens
Input$0.75 (best)$2.00
Output$3.75 (best)$6.00
Cached input$0.075—
Blended (3:1)$1.50 (best)$3.00
Long-context rateSame rateSame rate
Price sourceOfficial Google APIMedian of 6 providers
Limits
Context window1,048,576 tokens (best)1,000,000 tokens
Max output65,536 tokens131,072 tokens (best)
Inputs and features
TextYesYes
ImagesYesYes
PDFsYesYes
AudioYesNo
VideoYesYes
ReasoningYesminimal · low · medium · highYes
Tool callingYesYes
Structured outputYesNo
Availability
WeightsProprietaryProprietary
API model IDgemini-3.6-flash—
API providers25 (best)6
ReleasedJul 21, 2026Sep 2, 2026
Knowledge cutoffMar 2026—
03 — Cost

What would a month cost?

Enter your expected volume in millions of tokens. List prices only; caching and batch discounts would lower these.

  • Gemini 3.6 Flash$15.00
  • Qwen3.8 Max 0902$32.00
04 — Questions

Which should you choose?

Which is better: Gemini 3.6 Flash or Qwen3.8 Max 0902?

Gemini 3.6 Flash is the better all-round choice, scoring 73/100 against Qwen3.8 Max 0902 (67). It leads on price and inputs & features. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.

Which is cheaper, Gemini 3.6 Flash or Qwen3.8 Max 0902?

Gemini 3.6 Flash is cheaper at $0.75 input / $3.75 output per million tokens (official Google API price). Qwen3.8 Max 0902 costs $2.00 input / $6.00 output per million tokens (median across 6 API providers). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $1.50 per million tokens for Gemini 3.6 Flash versus $3.00 for Qwen3.8 Max 0902 (2× as much).

Which scores higher on benchmarks?

Qwen3.8 Max 0902 scores higher on the Capabilities Index (ECI): Qwen3.8 Max 0902 155.2 (#28 of 148) and Gemini 3.6 Flash 154.3 (#34 of 148). The confidence ranges of the top two overlap (153.2–157.3 vs 152.6–156.3), so treat the gap as small. On individual benchmarks: GPQA Diamond — Gemini 3.6 Flash 94.1%, Qwen3.8 Max 0902 92.3%; FrontierMath Tiers 1–3 — Qwen3.8 Max 0902 65.6%, Gemini 3.6 Flash 59.0%; OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025 — Qwen3.8 Max 0902 100%, Gemini 3.6 Flash 94.2%; SimpleQA Verified — Gemini 3.6 Flash 66.2%, Qwen3.8 Max 0902 47.3%.

Which is better for coding?

There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Gemini 3.6 Flash and Qwen3.8 Max 0902 yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. On overall capability, Qwen3.8 Max 0902 leads, which tends to carry over to coding, but test on your own codebase. Both support tool calling for agent workflows.

Which has the bigger context window?

Gemini 3.6 Flash has the largest context window at 1,048,576 tokens, against 1,000,000 for Qwen3.8 Max 0902. Maximum output per response: Gemini 3.6 Flash up to 65,536, Qwen3.8 Max 0902 up to 131,072 tokens.

Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?

Gemini 3.6 Flash accepts text, images, PDFs, audio and video; Qwen3.8 Max 0902 accepts text, images, PDFs and video. Gemini 3.6 Flash handles the widest range of inputs.

Are any of these open source?

No. Gemini 3.6 Flash and Qwen3.8 Max 0902 are proprietary and only available through APIs and apps.

Which is newer?

Qwen3.8 Max 0902 is the newest, released Sep 2, 2026. Gemini 3.6 Flash came out Jul 21, 2026. Knowledge cutoff: Gemini 3.6 Flash Mar 2026.

How do you decide the winner?

Each model gets a 0–100 score on capability (50%, independent benchmark results); price (25%, blended price per million tokens (3 input : 1 output), log scale); inputs & features (15%, image, PDF, audio and video input, tool calling, structured output and reasoning); context window (10%, maximum tokens per request, log scale). Dimensions missing for any model are dropped and the remaining weights rescaled, so every model is judged on the same evidence. Specs and prices come from public model listings and the labs’ own API pages; capability scores come from independent benchmark runs. Data updated Oct 4, 2026.

05 — Keep comparing

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